Two Flowers On The Wall
by Diya Mond
Summary: One had always been a wallflower, the nerdy plants lover in dear need of braces, the clumsy pure blood who ended up being a key player in the Great War. The other one was the brain of the Golden Trio, the fierce lionness who proved herself to all and saved the world, the plain girl with the messy hair who should have been a wallflower.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys ! So here is my first HP fanfic ever ! Enjoy and review!**

 **Warning : I may or may not finish it, so feel free to take as yours any idea of mine.**

 **Disclaimer: We all know who JK Rowling is right ?**

Everything was a big fucking mess.

Not that Hermione Granger was one to swear, but sometimes there was no other way to express how fucked up a situation was. Sure she had been risking her life to protect the whole world since she was 11, yes she had been tortured by the most wicked witch of England -rest her broken soul-, she had fought in a war. For Pete's sake she was rumoured to be the brightest witch of her generation, fiery lioness of the golden trio !

However as she stood soaked to the bone in front of her parents' house, clutching the handbag she knew to be containing her whole life... well, she felt nothing more than pathetic. She knew she wouldn't knock on the door. She simply couldn't. They wouldn't know her if she handed a birth certificate or a DNA testing. Hermione had known when she had cast the spell that it was unlikely she would ever be able to revert it. Too much had been erased from their memories, and to force all that back into their brains could result into a seizure at least or... death, at worst. She's had settled for a complicated spell of her own making, which she imagined as a door left open in their minds, and upon familiar spaces or things, it could enable their subconscious to bring forth memories of her. It was a really slow process and there was no guarantee it would even work out, but it was something at least.

How the mighty had fallen !

When she had gotten engaged to Ron, she had been so over the moon, when he had asked her to travel around the world with him for his Quidditch competitions she hadn't hesitated one second and left her prestigious and highly ranked position as the Chief Potion Brewer at the Ministry of Magic. Sure she could get back in, she was Hermione Granger after all, they wouldn't dare to refuse her but she would have to work her way back up and honestly she wasn't sure she liked it anymore. -if she had ever. Sure she came across rare and wonderful ingredients and the challenge of creating new potions...She had been great at what she was doing, however she had felt quite lonely in her private laboratory.

Her brains wouldn't stop playing the scene she had walked into. Ron, her fiancé, laying naked with... Lavender Brown ! Her former roommate had become one of the most famous model of the magic world, often doing first pages for Witch Weekly and even the serious and prestigious Spell Magazine. Somehow, if she had walked in on them going at it, it would have hurt, of course, but she may have forgiven him if it was just physical. Hermione had known Ron wasn't faithful for months now, but he was the only man she had ever loved. However, when she caught them, they had been sleeping, peacefully cuddling one another, there was no alcohol in sight and somehow the intimate scene felt as if she was the one intruding.

In a minute, a quick spell, and she was all packed and leaving their apartment, the one they had shared since they were nineteen and out of school -a year later thanks to Voldemort-, they had lived three full years there and the last two it has been the home they came back to after months of traveling. In three years, she had succeeded in making a name for herself amongst the best potions masters, she had gotten two degrees in potions arts and curse breaking, she even had a formation in medical magic ! Also, even though the war wasn't over, Hermione couldn't stop practicing in good conscience, so she kept learning knew spells and read books over books to be ready. Ready for what ? Even she didn't know, but just in case she was.

Hermione Granger was strong. She had taken care of people for years without ever failing, she could get back to her feet while nursing her broken heart.

Now, she just needed to find how.

oOoOo

Worse than losing Ron ? Losing his family.

If she was honest with herself, half of the reason she loved Ron was his family. Maybe even more. Molly and Arthur Weasley were parents to her, she felt at home at the Burrow, even now that it had been restored and upgraded post-war. The family -which had always been struggling to make the ends meet month after month- was now set for life as part of the major protagonists.

Around twenty people had became rich, incredibly rich after everything was over. Postbox of the death eaters were nobles whose families were as wealthy as they were guilty of collaborating with the devil. Most were sent off to Azkaban but a few got lesser punishment. All of those who went to prison had to give away their fortunes if they had no innocentes family members who could inherit, the others had to pay heavy fines.

Though the huge part of the money went to repairing the damages and setting up funds for orphans, magical creatures, students, people injured during the war and so on, a small part, around a few hundred millions -that's how rich those nobles had been- went to those who had a direct hand in bringing Tom Riddle down.

She remembered when thy had been reunited at the ministry. The whole Order of the Phoenix and a handful of students from the Army of Dumbledore.

They had all went in shock at first, then Molly had started crying. Money wouldn't bring back her dead son, neither would' it give them back their former life, but they had lost so much and were still too caught up in grief to figure out how to get the head out of the water, this has been some kind font miracle.

One by one, each Weasley -except from Percy- had been given a key to a vault at Gringotts and then it was Andromeda tonks -on behalf of Remus and Nymphadora's single son-, one' by one' each of the Order's members, and next Luna. They were all asked to leave as soon as they had their keys to join a ball which was held to celebrate the end of a seven years long nightmare. The last three standing in front of the new Minister of Magic were Harry, Neville and Hermione. She remembered when Neville looked at the minister straight in the eyes and told him he was giving everything to help get the world back on tracks. Harry had looked at him with respect shining in his eyes and followed suite, saying he already had much left by his parents. Hermione had only kept enough money to getter by for her studies and later on gave away the rest of the money.

How she would love to go to the burrow now ! Molly has called right after she has checked in a hotel the morning after -after wandering around the whole night- reassuring her and lifting up her spirit. Somehow, deep down, Hermione felt relieved Ron had done that now, of course she still felt humiliated and hurt, but they weren't mean to be, she was starting to see that now. In the afternoon, the same day she had received an enchanted picture which showed Ron transfigured into a broomstick by Georges. Mrs Weasley has even used him to clean up the mess Ginny had made while she was laughing -sending her bowl of cereals crashing down.

As grateful as she was to the red haired family, she felt she needed time away, and that's exactly what she had told Harry when he had stormed into the hotel room the exact same day, calling Ron ugly names and carrying a huge box of Hermione's favorite muggle chocolate brands. Harry, though he would never break off his friendship with Ron, was a good friend and had given the other boy a good talk which ended with a split lip for the red head.

It has been a week since the big fall out and Hermione was going crazy. She didn't know what to do.

Of course, she should have expected the solution was going to come from Hogwart. She always ended up back there anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello ! Thanks for those who read and added my story :) I would love to get a few reviews though I'm not being difficult, anythin will do!**

Professor McGonagall had always been her model. Elegant, confident, talented, smart and witty, the elder woman was everything you needed to be to make your own place amongst men and to do so in class. However as Hermione opened the door of the hotel room, the woman she found staring back at her was looking quite furious, cold anger tightening her already tight features in such a way that she looked like she was made out of marble and not flesh.

"Miss Granger I would have expected much more of you than to wither away in a hotel room because of a breakup."

"Wither away ?" Hermione was too shocked to make a more articulated sentence and barely remembered to step to her left to allow her former teacher to walk into the room.

"You have been hiding for two weeks now. If it wasn't for the regular floo-ins you get from the Weasley family and Harry, we wouldn't even know about your living status."

"I... I apologise professor, I didn't mean to go awol. Just... I just needed some time away to... to think and... find a way to get back on my feet." Hermione stuttered, feeling like a fifth grader again.

"Hermione, dear." McGonagall took her hand and lead her toward the unmade bed. "I know broken heart are a sensible matter that needs to be treated with gently and given care, but you're a strong, beautiful, young woman. You're only twenty four. Sure you may have wasted more than enough time on Ronald Weasley -who, to be honest, I've never felt deserved you- but you still got so much waiting ahead of you."

By the end of her speech, Hermioen was crying, hot tears she had contained for two weeks were now freely rolling down her cheeks.

"I know my dear, I know." The older woman was softly patting her back with one hand and holding hers with the other.

"I- I- I don't know wh-what to d-do !" She hiccuped.

"I could guess that much and that's actually what prompted my visit here. I have to admit that my intentions weren't completely selfless."

Hermione managed to calm down a little and looked questionningly at Hogwarts' headmistress.

"Well, you see, Slugghorn decided to retire and I am absolutely appalled to say that almost no worthy potion masters grace the Great Britain land. I've been searching for months but... Anyways I came to ask you if you would honour us your presence as a teacher at Hogwarts ?"

"Wow. Er... Professor, I have to be honest with you, I've never thought about teaching before." Her tone clearly indicated that she didn't want to. "giving some help here and there, sure, but..."

"I know Hermione, but this is only a temporary position. I've actually found someone interested in the job, an Italian professors in his late fifties or something. However his contracts with his employer only ends in December. Only four little months that's all I'm asking for."

oOoOo

The warmth that envelopped her as stepped on school ground was one of the best feelings in the world. The castle was making her feel welcome, and though she was anxious about starting her new job, for now she was content with just breathing in the fresh air away from London.

She wasn't sure how she felt about teaching yet, however is she knew one thing, it was that she had never felt more at home than amongst those walls. Centuries of knowledge and history graced the steps she was walking, it was almost in the air, Hermione could almost taste it. Out of habit, the new teacher had headed toward the gryffindor tower. Of course, none of the passwords she uttered worked.

"Teachers have an universal password. Well universal ! It can only grant access to the dormitories, all of them mind you !" The portrait of the fat woman had explained to her. "They'll give it to you at the first teachers meeting."

Hermione had then felt stupid and sheepish. What was she doing here ? Nostalgic much for a first day at school. She had quickly excused herself and gone back on her step. McGonagall, or Minerva as she insisted Hermione could now call her as a fellow teacher, had told her a meeting was to be held for the school staff later that day. Said later was a few minutes away as the former head girl had been lost in her thoughts and memories.

She took a quick shortcut she remembered from the Marauder's Map and reached the headmaster's office right on time. Hermione felt relieved to see she was not the last one to arrive.

The office had been magically expended, though it still felt like a tight match. Hermione noted that she should remark to the headmistress that the Room of Requirement was a much better choice to held those meeting. A huge round wooden table was the only change, besides the size of the room itself.

There were a little over twenty chairs. She met most of her fellow teachers, some had even taught her as a student a few years ago. Hagrid was there too, and she was happy to see him, they only saw each other for Christmas usually, as he has been invited to the last six chrismast by Harry. The half giant was as emotional as ever and manage to almost bien suffocate her in his bear hug before Proffesor Binns, the history of magic teacher who also happened to be a ghost, passed through them to get to his seat. The creepy, cold feeling was enough to make Hagrid, who had gotten back his position as the care of magical creatures teacher, let go of her.

Hermione greeted everyone present, even Professor Trelawney, with whom she had never gotten along. The new Muggle Studies teacher was a young witch a little older than Hermione who came from Beauxbatons, her name was Suzanne Terrau and the only thing Hermione could say about her was that she seemed... original. Electric blue hair and light grey eyes, underneath the mandatory black robes she was wearing, splash of yellow and pink could be seen, the dangling from her many bracelets and heavy copper eearrings was the principal source of noise as of yet.

The biggest surprise was the DADA teacher. If anyone had told her the distinguished, wealthy, pure-blooded, arrogant and whiny Draco Malfoy would become a teacher, she would have snorted in their face. Not laughed, snorted. The Malfoys has suffered a great deal in the aftermath of the war. Though Hermione liked to believe she was a peaceful person, seeing Lucius Malfoy off to Azkaban had been quite satisfying -she still felt guilty thinking about the way her heart had warmed with relief that day. The family had lost a good part of their fortune, but as it had already been said before, pure bloods were quite wealthy and the loss wasn't enough to put them on the street, though she heard they had to move from their manor. Narcissa had been one of the rare death-eaters who had not been sent to prison or gotten community services or even house arrest. The woman's had been searched in and out and she had been fed the strongest veritaserum, but apart from hatred, guilt, pain and fear -mostly for her son- the juries couldn't find anything wrong. The only thing keeping Narcissa from living peacefully now were the people, everyone still looked at her as Lucius Malfoy's wife, the mute and submissive former death eater.

Draco's name was cleared right away by Harry and Hermione herself, they knew the truth about Voldemort's death and had seen their classmate struggle to survive and even to help them once as he lied to his crazy aunt's face. The boy had grown into a fine man as far as she could see, he was of course as handsome as ever -if not more- and had a peaceful look on his face, relaxed with just a hint of his initial arrogance. He had gone to college after Hogwarts and had exceeded all expectations by getting a degree in both curse-breaking and charms. Draco had not just gotten the degree, from what she had heard along the years, he had aced all his classes, getting first places everywhere. Honestly, she has been quite impressed by his achievements but had been so sure he would had been working on building back up his family's name by starting a successful business or even working for a huge company. As it was, the former slytherin was sitting two chairs from her, and had been' polite while greeting her, his expression lacking the insulting shock hers must have shown.

The house elves had been present at the tabe too, represented by an old cooking elf, Rita who managed to look both admiratives and fearful of Hermione. The latter still had a hard time grasping the fact they did not want the clothes -and thus freedom- she kept offering them. A ghost was there too, though he seemed more interested in playing with his removable fingers than anything else.

Only one chair remained empty, it seemed the Herbology teacher was late. Just as McGonagall greeted everyone, the door burst open and a man rushed inside.

Hermioen was speechless and could do nothing but stare at the new entrance. He was tall and lean, though his loose t-shirt showed smooth muscled arms, but what really caught Hermione's attention was his face. It was familiar but she's couldnt have forgotten such a face, bold features, sharp nose, hard jaw, thin lip crooked into an awkward smile... awkward smile ! Hermione looked up and her heart accelerated on the brownish dark blond messy hair, however it stopped when she met clear green eyes, shining as if they held a world of their own. Hermione had just checked Neville Longbottom out ! The only SPEW willing and loyalest member had grown a stubble ! Neville was hot !

Evrything in these last three thoughts sounded wrong. She almost couldnt believe she was looking at the same person, but this smile and those eyes didn't lie. For a lack of a better term, the shy gryffindor had always been a wallflower. Sure, he had his shining moments, but through the years, he had mostly been invisible until the school had needed him in times of full out war. Hermione could almost remember him sitting near the window in the common room, not speaking unless someone directly addressed him. She also remembered him stuttering and doing his best to hide in classes. This man sitting across from her looked confident and radiated playfulness and adventure.

"I apologise for being late. Nice to see you again or nice to meet you everyone !" He smiled sheepishly and Hermione has to smile back.


End file.
